


two times rey lied to poe dameron and the one time she told the truth

by Like_A_Dove



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Kylo Ren being an overprotective asshat, Of course not, Poe POV, Poe is a hard Slytherin, Post TLJ, and Rey is a horrendous liar, injured!Rey, will Poe and Kylo Ren ever have a civil conversation?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-22
Updated: 2018-07-01
Packaged: 2019-05-26 17:04:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15005390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Like_A_Dove/pseuds/Like_A_Dove
Summary: In which no one in the Resistance seems to notice what a lying oddball Rey of Jakku is. No one except Poe Dameron.





	1. the lies

His “torture buddy” is odd.

Odd for many reasons.

The first being that she eats like a starving man who has no idea where his next meal is going to come from. Which, Poe supposes, makes sense given Rey’s personal history. But if there’s one thing the Resistance isn’t lacking in, it’s food portions.

The second being that she’s a Force user. Which, okay. Had come in handy on Crait when this Jedi girl had saved their asses by lifting all those bloody rocks. But sometimes Poe will catch her staring off into space, as if she’s seeing or hearing or sensing things that no one else can. “It’s just Force stuff,” Finn had explained to him once. But every time Poe Dameron catches Rey mumbling to herself as she walks through the hallways of this abandoned base they’re holed up in, he can’t help but be glad that he’s normal.

The third being that, for someone who is such a terrible liar, Rey lies often. Well, more then often. She lies all the time. To him.

And normally Poe Dameron can’t stand liars. But, as well as being able to sniff out mistruths, Poe can read people pretty well. And while Rey lies boldly to his face, her dishonesty does not come from a malicious place.

Which makes Rey of Jakku, Poe Dameron’s “torture buddy”, the most interesting person in the Resistance.

**

The first big lie comes barely two weeks after their escape from Crait. They’d only just landed on a backwater planet in the Outer Rim, and everyone is more then happy to no longer be cramped in the Millennium Falcon together.

That’s when the WANTED FOR THE MURDER OF SUPREME LEADER SNOKE bounties started showing up all over the HoloNet. Bounties for Rey. Rey, who has an admittedly adorable smile, is oddly protective of the porgs that had nested on the Falcon, and lets Rose braid her hair during breakfast. Rey, who apparently killed Snoke.

The idea is laughable, and Poe knows that there’s no way it’s true.

But he still has to ask.

They’re in the mess hall eating dinner, him and Finn, Rose, Rey, and Connix. Rey finishes her meal first and is slouching in her seat, patiently waiting for the rest of her friends to finish eating. Poe watches as the Jedi’s eyes flick around the room several times, as if taking inventory of everyone there, as if there might be someone amongst them that shouldn’t be.

Yes, his torture buddy is definitely odd.

“So,” Poe begins, chewing through his vegloaf without really bothering to taste it. Food is meant to be consumed for fuel, nothing more. “I’m sure you heard about the price that’s currently on your head, Rey.”

She doesn’t flush or go pale. But she does focus on him, eyes narrowing a little. And maybe she sits up a little straighter.

Finn claps her on the shoulder, grinning. “A million credits!” His chest puffs out with pride. “For being the _coolest_ girl in the galaxy.”

Neither Finn nor Rey notice the way Rose’s face falls ever so slightly at these words. And Poe wants to shake his head at just…at how _young_ they all are, really. Because Rose is obviously head over heels for Finn, and Finn obviously reciprocates but is a _guy_ and therefore says stupid shit. And Rey… Rey exists in her own little world most of the time.

Rey’s smile at Finn’s words is brief, and she glances at him quickly before looking back down at her empty plate.

Poe leans forward slightly, lowering his voice and grabbing Rey’s attention again. “How’d you do it?”

Her gaze flicks up and meets his. She visibly swallows. “I gutted him with my lightsaber,” she answers matter-of-factly. “Split him in two.”

Finn lets out a low, appreciative whistle.

Poe smiles at her, catching the way Rey’s face is beginning to shine with sweat. “How did you overcome his mind games?”

She looks thrown for a moment. “Mind games?” she asks, nonchalant.

Poe lets out a humorless laugh. “You told me you were tortured by Kylo Ren on Starkiller. That he invaded your mind like he did mine. Didn’t Snoke teach him that? He was his master.”

Ah. Now she’s going pale. She nods sharply and glances to the side, a muscle in her cheek jumping. She’s annoyed.

“So, how did you get around that?” Poe props his chin in his hand, feeling relaxed and nonplussed.

Rey shrugs one shoulder and wow, she really cannot lie. “I don’t remember. I try to block out that encounter.” She’s trying to evade the conversation by feigning loss of memory. A solid tactic.

“And how did you get past Kylo Ren?” Poe continues, not willing to let her off the hook just yet. “Surely he didn’t let you just strut off the _Supremacy_ after you murdered his master.”

Rey’s whole body has gone stiff.

Interesting.

“I said,” she grits out, and Poe is briefly surprised at how hostile she’s suddenly become, “that I don’t remember.” Then she gets off the bench in a hurry, nearly tripping over her own two feet as she marches out of the mess hall.

 _Very_ interesting.

**

They’ve been on this base three months when she tells him the second big lie.

Three months filled with meetings with Leia, training sessions with Finn, and stolen moments of warmth and pleasure with Connix. 

Poe is walking along a lonely corridor, head low as he thinks through the mission Leia has just assigned for him. He’ll finally be allowed to leave this forsaken planet and do something—

“You are _useless._ ”

Poe lifts his head. He’s about to pass the door leading into the workshop, and Rey’s voice echoes out of it, causing him to soften his steps.

That’s another thing that’s odd about his torture buddy. She talks to herself when she thinks no one else is around. Not that talking to one’s self is bad; Poe gives himself pep talks all the time. But Rey carries out actual conversations with a being who is decidedly not there.

Poe creeps into the doorway, watching as Rey sits at a worktable, back toward him. 

“If all you’re going to do is criticize me, then you can fuck off,” she snaps at empty air.

There’s a silent pause and Rey leans back over what Poe can only assume are the two halves of her broken saber. She’s suddenly shaking her head, grabbing a tool and throwing it at literally nothing.

“It’s not—I didn’t do that to be _funny_.” Rey sounds annoyed with whatever imaginary friend she’s conversing with. “You’re a pest. Don’t you have better things to do then to stand around and ogle at me?”

And then her cheeks turn bright red.

This Jedi is so, so odd.

Rey ducks her head a little, and the next time she speaks her voice is very soft. “I wish you wouldn’t say things like that.” Another pause, and then she sighs. “I don’t care if you think it’s true. You just confuse me.”

And Poe, who will freely admit that he’s a nosy asshole, decides its time to make his presence known. “Who are you talking to?”

Rey whips around, eyes wide and a little frightened. “Poe?! How long have you been standing there?”

Poe shrugs, leaning against the doorframe and giving the Jedi a small smile. “Communing with the Force?”

Rey stares at him for a long moment before she glances at the corner of the room. It’s empty. “I wasn’t speaking to anyone,” she says coolly. “Just talking to myself.”

What a terrible, terrible liar.

Poe smiles, nods. “Yeah?”

She takes a sharp breath, eyes going wide with sudden alarm. “Don’t—”

Something shoves him. Just a little. Just enough to make him stumble backward a couple of feet. And then it’s gone, and when Poe refocuses he finds Rey visibly wincing.

She scrambles to her feet. “Sorry, I—Sorry.” She’s biting her bottom lip, looking immensely guilty and uncomfortable. She takes a deep, shaky breath as Poe brushes nonexistent dust off his pants. “I’m still leaning how to control the Force. It just—” she makes a pushing moment with her palms “—it comes out sometimes. I can’t help it.”

More lies. Lies half assed and filled with panic. Like she’s trying to protect a secret.

“Of course.” And he smiles at her again, because Poe Dameron knows he has one hell of a charming smile. And even though she’s not interested in him like _that_ , she relaxes a little at his nonchalance over the situation. He looks at the corner of the room again. Still empty.

But it hadn’t been. Not to her. Poe is certain of it.

He straightens his jacket and chucks Rey underneath her chin. “Don’t lose too much sleep over that saber.”

She nods, biting her bottom lip. “Will do.”

He’s halfway down the hallway when he hears her close the door with a solid _thunk_.

**

It all clicks into place a month later, when a legion of stormtroopers descend on them. They’d been warned by an ally about an hour before the attack and had managed to gather all their members as well as their essential supplies into the Falcon and freshly donated shuttles. They’d been practicing these drills for months now in case this ever happened, after all.

Everyone is present and accounted for. Everyone except Rey.

And they can’t leave her, not the last Jedi. Leia won’t stand for it, and neither will Finn. Or anyone else for that matter. 

But when the First Order razes through their base, the place they’d all been sleeping in mere hours before, Poe is beginning to mull over what he might have to say in order to convince Leia to leave his torture buddy behind.

Her life is not worth the lives of five of Poe’s best men. Surely the General knows this—

There’s a pounding of heavy footsteps coming up the ramp from outside of the Falcon. Finn rushes to open the door, Poe at his heels. 

“Be prepared to take off in thirty seconds!” Poe shouts to Chewbacca, who roars back an affirmative.

Except it’s not just Rey waiting for them on the other side of the door.

It’s an unconscious Rey cradled in the arms of Kylo Ren, who is covered in blood that is not his own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I missed writing Kylo Ren stupid ass, and that's the sole reason this fic exists. Next part should be up tomorrow or the day after!
> 
> I have [tumblr](http://likeadove.tumblr.com/) and [twitter](https://twitter.com/LikeADove_).
> 
> If you liked let me know?


	2. we're getting somewhere

Poe had met Ben Solo for the first and only time when he had been fourteen. His mother, Shara Bey, and Leia Organa had been friends since their Rebellion days, and young teenage Poe Dameron had found himself bored out of his mind at a state dinner.

That was until Ben Solo had been sat down across from him. Their mothers were hoping to inspire a friendship, apparently. It didn’t work. Not quite.

Poe had heard rumors about Ben Solo for years. Rumors that he wasn’t quite right in the head, that he could hear your thoughts. That he was creep who could possess you and manipulate you if you weren’t careful.

So, naturally, when Ben Solo turned out to be a fellow bored teen at a too-fancy dinner, Poe was sorely disappointed. Solo was just a hollow-faced boy around his own age, with ears too big for his head and already taller then most of the adults there. It made him hunch down in his seat in awkwardness.

Poe and Ben talked about flight simulators and complained about how gross the gelatin dessert was. All in all, not bad company.

Poe left the dinner thinking that the rumors about Ben were painfully untrue. Ben Solo wasn’t creepy or weird or horrible. Ben Solo had just been sad.

**

Which is why, when Poe Dameron recognizes Ben Solo’s face on the body of Kylo Ren, he feels anger first. Anger, because all those years ago _he’d been wrong about him._

The second thing Poe feels is a blur of many emotions, because the next few moments are complete chaos.

Someone immediately sends a blaster bolt for Ren’s head. It’s dodged with ease and then Poe, and everyone else unlucky enough to be by the door, are shoved several feet backward. And Poe has been shoved like this before. Several weeks ago, actually.

People are shouting, not used to the Force being wielded against them so blatantly, and Poe feels his mouth fall open. He needs to _speak, to give_ commands, but everything is happening so quickly and—

Kylo Ren strides forward, eyes wild and desperately clutching Rey against him. Her skin is a sickly pale, and Poe knows instantly that she’s lost a lot of blood. Ren makes a sharp left, as if heading toward the tiny little makeshift infirmary on the Falcon that’s not so much an infirmary as it is a med-droid with a cot and a first-aid kit.

Well, technically this _was_ his father’s ship.

“Don’t follow him!” Poe shouts, and the Resistance members surrounding him eye him with apprehension and fear. He grabs Finn and yanks him back, away from the sight of Ren’s cloak disappearing around a corridor.

“Rey! _Rey—_ ”

Poe gives his friend a shake. “Finn, contact the other two shuttles and tell Leia that her son is aboard our ship with a badly injured Rey—”

“Her _what?!_ ”

“Just do it! And don’t let anyone else go near them, okay?”

Finn’s eyes are wide and panicked. “But Rey— _Kylo Ren_ —”

Poe draws him close. “Listen, I don’t know what’s going on but you know as well as I do that one wrong move and that bastard could bring this whole ship down with all of us still in it. And I don’t know about you Finn, buddy, but I don’t feel like dying today.”

Finn swallows, then nods tightly. “But, Rey—”

“I’m going to…” Poe pauses here so that he can wince. “I’m going to go scope out the situation, okay? You stay here and keep everyone calm.”

Finn is straightening to his full height, and he looks a little calmer when Rose forces her way to his side. The two of them get on well with pretty much everyone in the Resistance, and Poe feels confident leaving most of everyone under their command for the time being.

He steps back, motions toward Mattias and C’ai, who aren’t so much his two most trusted men as they are the most useful with blasters. They fall in line behind him, and it doesn’t take many steps away from the main corridor from the Falcon to hear the droning of the med-droid.

“—both shots have burned into the patient’s stomach and upper intestines. Both injuries are fatal. The patient has about seven minutes to—”

There’s the horrible, horrible noise of metal being ripped apart and Poe ducks as the head of the med-droid arcs and nearly hits him in the face.

And then there’s a scream. Poe wouldn’t classify it as a scream of rage—he’s heard those before. He’s been in enough battles, lost enough Resistance members to know the sound of someone’s anger overtaking them in a fit.

This is a scream of agony. 

Poe balks as soon as Rey comes into view. Someone has pulled off her shirt in order to expose her lower body and the usually white linen of her breast band is stained a bright red. There are holes in her stomach and blood seeps sluggishly out of the wounds. Poe stops in his tracks.

Kylo Ren is hunched over her, hands hovering over her wounds, as if he desperately wants to fix her but has no idea how. He’s muttering things to Rey, although Poe’s torture buddy seems unconscious for the time being.

There’s a brief moment where Poe thinks to himself that this is what true honor among enemies must be—he’d read about it in many a war novel as a teen and young adult—the idea of someone respecting their enemy so much that they would not wish them anything but a good death. And this is decidedly not a good death for Rey.

But then Kylo Ren makes a chocking noise, so low and earnest that Poe is taken aback. Then the Knight leans over Rey’s body, presses his forehead to hers, whispering to her all the while.

Poe isn’t witnessing two enemies, he realizes with a jolt. He’s witnessing a man in love. A man in love with a woman who is dying.

And then C’ai, who is a fantastic pilot but dumb as soup, unhelpfully says, “All our bacta is on the other shuttle.”

Poe barely contains his groan. C’ai is slammed up against the ceiling before dropping back to the tiled floor, knocked out. Mattias raises his blaster, and Poe watches helplessly as the weapon is whipped out of his friend’s hand and smashed against the wall. Then Mattias is given the same treatment as C’ai.

Kylo Ren moves his reddened eyes on Poe, hand outstretched to choke him or flick him against the wall as well, when Poe raises his arms in a motion of surrender.  
They’re all going to die. Everyone on this ship is going to die unless Poe can talk his way out of this scenario smoothly—

Rey’s eyes flutter open and Ren gasps, large ungloved hand tenderly cupping her jaw. Her hazel eyes take Kylo Ren in first and the corner of her mouth turns up in meager attempt at a smile. “Ben.” 

Ah. His torture buddy loves Kylo Ren too.

Poe’s brain grinds to a halt before whirling to life again, and suddenly so many odd things about his torture buddy make some damn sense. Of course Rey hadn’t killed Snoke. Kylo Ren had killed Snoke for Rey. And of course Rey isn’t constantly talking to no one. She and Kylo Ren are Force buddies.

Well, a lot more then just Force buddies, Poe gathers.

“—how to save you, Rey. Tell me how. _Please—_ ”

Kylo Ren is touching Rey’s face, pale hand sticky with her blood. “I won’t feel you die, Rey, _I can’t_. I won’t survive it.”

He’s telling the truth.

In that moment Commander Dameron thinks that maybe it’s best for the Resistance if his torture buddy dies right here on this cot in the Millennium Falcon. He can shoot Kylo Ren while the man is distracted with her death, and then that’ll be that. No more Supreme Leader of the First Order.

In that moment Poe Dameron, a guy who has a soft spot for holovid dramas and has seen so much death, too much death in these past few years, thinks that the worst thing for the future of the galaxy is for a love like this to be so brutally denied. It makes him feel hopeless.

And hopelessness is not what the Resistance stands for.

“You know how.” Rey’s voice is weak and soft, but she gazes up at the man hovered over her with adoration that is simply herculean. 

“I can’t, Rey. I can’t. I’m not able to—” Kylo Ren is shaking his head, dark eyes shiny with unshed tears, and suddenly Poe is struggling to continue thinking of him as Kylo Ren and not Ben Solo, the miserable teen boy sitting across from Poe at a state dinner some fifteen years ago.

Poe swallows, feeling a bit uncomfortable. As if he’s watching a scene play out that in theory he should not be privy to.

Blood is now dribbling from Rey onto the cot onto the floor, and Ren winces at the gentle splashing of it, as if it’s the most horrifying noise in the entire universe.

There are shouts and then Finn barrels into view. “If we don’t take off now we’ll be overrun by the First Order!” His eyes move to a bloodied Rey and he looks stricken. “Rey—”

Poe gives him a hard shove back in the direction he came from. “Then we take off! Don’t let anyone come back this way, got it?”

“But _Rey_ —”

And Poe doesn’t know how to tell Finn that she’s dying. He doesn’t.

There’s a swear, and Poe turns to find that Rey has passed back out and Ren is running his hands through his hair, a decidedly human gesture, streaking it with wet blood. He glances over, eyes landing on Poe.

And Poe stares back. Resigns himself to shooting Kylo Ren as soon as Rey passes. Poe already carries the names and faces of all the bombers that he’d lost under his command, as well as every pilot that’s been shot down under his watch. He supposes he can shoulder Ben Solo’s death as well.

But then Kylo Ren does something odd. He crouches down by Rey’s side, splays a hand out against Rey’s wounds. He squeezes his eyes shut and a tear slips out, down his cheek to quickly drop off his chin. Kylo Ren takes a deep, steadying breath.

And the hand against Rey’s belly begins to glow blue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. This two-shot has become a three-shot because this fic started off as me completely dicking around and pulling shit outta my ass and has now turned into A Thing Requiring Forethought.
> 
> Last chapter should be up in a couple of days.
> 
> I have [tumblr](http://likeadove.tumblr.com/) and [twitter](https://twitter.com/LikeADove_).
> 
> If you liked let me know?


	3. the truth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before we begin please look at this [wonderful drawing](https://twitter.com/weywobi/status/1011218091039076352) by [@weywobi](https://twitter.com/weywobi) and allow it to give you pain.

Poe Dameron hasn’t had very pleasant experiences involving the Force thus far in his life.

The first time he’d seen it, really seen it being used was, unfortunately for him, several months ago in Kylo Ren’s interrogation room. And that had been…fucking terrible.

That masked demon had split Poe’s mind open and had taken what he’d wanted with no regard for anyone or anything beyond his own needs. It was the first time Poe had considered the First Order as truly evil. And maybe it’s a good thing most Force users have died out over time, if they can do things like _that._

But this display of the Force is decidedly _not_ evil.

In fact, despite being intrigued, Poe mostly feels deeply uncomfortable at being here, witnessing this.

Kylo Ren’s hand is enveloped in blue, the glow stretching and moving across Rey’s wounds until it’s not so much a glow but an actual _thing_ , a weighted light sinking into the ruined skin of her stomach. 

Poe hears things he shouldn’t.

“ _Please, Rey._ ” Kylo Ren isn’t pleading with the Jedi, he’s begging. As if this is the end of the road for him otherwise. “ _Please_.” But maybe he’s not just begging her but begging _everything_. Life, the Force, Rey. Kylo Ren himself, even. 

Poe slides a step backward.

The color of the blue deepens and there’s a hum in the air. Ren groans with the effort of whatever it is he’s doing, forehead shining with sweat. He hunches over Rey’s body, as if he can curve himself into her spirit. “ _Don’t die_ ,” he gasps, and then, as a strangled, determined after thought, “ _but either way I will find you_.”

C’ai and Mattias are beginning to stir, each wincing at the brightness of the light. And really Poe should raise a hand to shield his eyes, but he can’t. Can’t rip his gaze away from the sight before him. He feels, somehow, that this is a defining moment in time. A moment so potent that he’ll look at his life as before this moment, and then after.

The light grows until even Poe knows that it’s not so much _light_ as it is the _Force._

And then there’s a moan from Rey. Not a pained moan, however. It reminds Poe of the kind of moan Connix might make when he’s trying to rouse her from bed. It’s the moan of someone awakening.

**

Kylo Ren stands stiffly next to Rey’s sleeping form, arms crossed over his chest and glowering at the floor. Every time Poe shifts his own stance the other man pins him with a pointed, threatening look. 

Really, it’s ridiculous.

Poe had sent Mattias and C’ai away as soon as he realized that Kylo Ren isn’t a direct threat. For now. That could all change as soon as Rey wakes back up, and as the leader aboard this ship Poe knows it’s his duty to keep an eye on Ren. And he’s probably going to die because of it if he doesn’t finagle this situation just right.

He tells Mattias to tell Finn to tell Chewbacca not to follow their original flight plan. And now they’re in some random system with the Supreme Leader of the First Order, their greatest enemy, hovering over Rey and avoiding eye contact with Poe.

As soon as Poe hears footsteps coming he knows it’s Finn. Honestly, he’s surprised Finn has managed to keep his distance for this long.

Sure enough, Finn turns a corner with Rose on his heels, looking nervous and half-panicked. He stills when he sees Rey, eyes not taking in the hulking man standing beside her cot.

“Rey!” Finn’s gaze settles on her stomach, which is gnarled and scar twisted but closed and no longer bleeding. Fixed. Whole. And Poe can’t believe the man who did it is the same man who tortured him, who murdered Han Solo. The Force is strange business. “She’s okay!”

Finn makes to move toward Rey’s cot, probably intending to grab her hand and hold it, but Kylo Ren immediately steps into his path, effectively blocking Rey from view.

And Finn…Finn decides that now is the moment to show courage against his former leader. “Move,” he snaps, tone low. Poe would be impressed if he didn’t already know exactly how this confrontation is going to end.

Ren stares down his nose at Finn. The stale air begins to churn and Poe resists the urge to groan. They don’t have any way to treat the injuries Kylo Ren is sure to inflict upon—

“Hey!” 

To Poe’s immense surprise, Rose steps between the two men, glaring up at Kylo Ren fiercely. “Calm down. Finn just wants to see how Rey is doing. She’s our friend and she almost died.”

Kylo Ren tilts his head down a little to take in the woman in front of him. Rose is so much smaller compared to Ren in stature that it’s almost comical. Not so comical, however when Ren cocks his head to the side and looks at Rose as if she’s an insect. An insect that he’d like nothing more than to squash.

In that moment, as if on cue, Rey stirs and moans again. Her eyes flutter open and her hand moves over her face, scrubbing at her eyes.

It’s almost cute, how Rey, half asleep and oblivious, can immediately take command of the entire room just by yawning.

But to Poe, this means that the maneuvering must begin now in earnest.

“Finn,” Rey mumbles, eyes fluttering open. She smiles a little at the sight of her friends. The expression disappears when she sees Kylo Ren, however. Disappears and is replaced with something else. “Ben,” she whispers, so low that Poe barely catches it.

Then his torture buddy looks down at her stomach, eyes widening when she notices that she’s no longer covered in fresh blood and gaping open at the middle. She stares back up at the man who had once been Ben Solo and her hazel eyes begin to swim. “Ben.” She says his name again simply and with pride.

Kylo Ren kneels down beside her immediately, large hand, still stained red, rubbing over her healed abdominal in an oddly intimate gesture.

Poe looks away, grabs Finn by the elbow and drags him back toward the corner of the hallway. “Tell Chewie to be ready. Whatever is going to happen is going to happen soon.”

Finn opens his mouth to argue or balk or panic—

Poe rests a hand firmly on his shoulder. “Tell Chewie to be prepared to land on the nearest planet. Or to fight.”

Finn opens his mouth again but Rose smacks him pointedly on the chest. “You got it,” she says, voice steady. But her face is grim.

All three nod at each other.

And then, as an afterthought, they all hug each other as well.

**  
Poe lets Rey and Kylo Ren have a moment.

And then he steps forward, making sure his footsteps fall sharply, loudly. The two don’t spring apart, instead separating slowly. As if releasing the other (Rey letting go of Ren’s hand, Kylo Ren sliding his hand over her stomach and hip to rest back at his side) is a desperately unwanted thing. 

Poe places his hand on his blaster and steps right up to the cot.

He’s shocked that he’s able to do so without any outright resistance from Kylo Ren.

“Rey,” he says, and she tilts her head up at him in acknowledgement. There’s worry in her eyes and she swallows.

“Hi, Poe,” She gives him a very strained smile, so fake Poe almost rolls his eyes. Kylo Ren shifts behind him, making Poe suck in a deep breath in order to remain calm. 

This next part will be tricky, will determine the fate of himself and everyone on the Falcon.

“Rey,” Poe begins again, letting his voice remain soft and nonthreatening. “I’m glad you’re alive, torture buddy. Had us all sweating there for a second.”

Rey smiles, cheekbones flushing a little. 

“Got ourselves in a situation, however. A supreme situation.” Poe jerks his head toward Ren. “As you can see.”

Rey snorts, diffusing the mounting tension in the room just a little.

Out of the corner of his eye Poe catches a flash of sheer indignance cross Kylo Ren’s face, as if the other man is affronted that Poe dared to make Rey laugh.

The flush on Rey’s cheeks deepens, and she takes a deep breath, as if preparing herself to speak.

“Can I ask you a question, Rey?”

She nods. Poe chooses his next words very carefully.

Poe really, really hopes she doesn’t lie this time.

“Do you love Kylo Ren?”

The man hovering over them both stills, and Poe knows Kylo Ren is just as anxious to hear Rey’s response as Poe is. Especially since Poe deliberately did not use his old name. It’ll be telling, what Rey decides to answer.

If Rey only loves Ben Solo then her feelings are conditional. Like she only loves him because of what he could be or what he’s been instead of who he is now, a man who can murder his father but also loves his enemy enough to heal her. Enough to stay his hand from truly hurting anyone on this ship.

Tears trickle down Rey’s cheeks and a noise of sharp inhalation comes from Kylo Ren.

She nods, at first slowly and then more vigorously, as if now that’s she’s decided to be honest with herself the truth cements more firmly inside of her. “Yes,” she breathes out. And then again, louder. “ _Yes_.”

The sincerity of it rings throughout the three of them like a song. And then Kylo Ren is scooping her up and sitting down on the cot with Rey in his arms, cradling the back of her head and kissing her in a starved way. 

Poe almost kind of sort of wants to smile at the sight.

**

They land on the nearest planet an hour later. It’s not a highly populated planet, but there’s a trade outpost that’s bustling with activity, shuttles constantly coming in and out.

That’s where they leave Rey and Kylo Ren.

“You don’t think we should have shot him?” Connix is standing next to Poe, watching Kylo Ren like a hawk, hand openly poised on her blaster.

Poe watches Rey wrap her arms around Finn in goodbye, watches her let go of him to embrace Rose. Kylo Ren stands off to the side, pointedly glaring at Finn with his mouth turned down in a scowl. “I think it’s more complicated than that.”

Connix raises her eyebrows at him.

He smiles at her. “I think falling in love with someone changes people. Not necessarily who they _are_ , but more along the lines of what they _want_. I don’t think Kylo Ren wants the same things he wanted six months ago.”

“And what do you think he wants now?” Connix sounds skeptical. In fact, everyone who he’s mentioned this plan to in the past hour has been skeptical. Kylo Ren will always be a murderer to them. A criminal. And Poe can’t blame them for that, nor does he plan to insist they think otherwise.

But that doesn’t make certain facts any less true.

“I think he wants to be with Rey.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I started this fic because I wanted to write Kylo Ren and Poe having a long conversation and look what the fuck _didn’t_ happened. Characters, man. *heaves exasperated sigh*
> 
> Anyway, I hope you all liked my little short story. Thank you to everyone who reviewed and left kudos! This was really me bullshitting around so I'm hoping you guys like this conclusion! Now to dive into another full project because I hate myself ^.^
> 
> I have [tumblr](http://likeadove.tumblr.com/) and [twitter](https://twitter.com/LikeADove_).
> 
> If you liked let me know?


End file.
